Recently I made the decision to join Rafay Systems. I had been in Enterprise IT for over two decades (all in networking), and most recently at multicloud networking pioneer Aviatrix Systems. So what made me want to join Rafay? In a nutshell – application modernization.

Although Multicloud Networking has grown to the point where Gartner now has a formal definition for the Multicloud Networking Software market, it’s important to remember that networking will always need to respond to the needs of modern application development. It’s always playing catch-up with the app.

I had always been fascinated by technologies that enable Enterprises to build applications with greater agility, whether they are in the cloud, for IoT, or for 5G. And containerization provides provides exactly this along with other benefits, such as:

• Continuous integration, development, and deployment
• Loosely coupled microservices
• Cloud and OS distribution portability

However, what containerization, alone, does not offer is:

• Load Balancing
• Automated rollouts and rollbacks
• Self-healing

This is where Kubernetes fits in. Kubernetes (k8s for short) is a framework for achieving all of the above goals and more to build modern applications.

However, k8s has a very steep learning curve. Here are the components of Kubernetes cluster:

None of these components are optional! At a small scale (such as POC level), managing this complexity is hard enough. However, when an Enterprise decides to take the plunge, they often find themselves falling down a slippery slope to a bottomless pit. Here are just a few reasons why:

1. Multicloud reality – While each of the CSPs have their own flavor of managed Kubernetes services, none is incentivized by multicloud support. I’ve previously written what the big deal about multicloud networking is. Taking a step back, Enterprises face the same challenge with operationalizing apps in multiple clouds. How do you perform lifecycle management of cluster types across all clouds, be it private or public?
2. Lack of centralized policy management controls – While there are native k8s constructs for network and security policy, they lack unified definition and enforcement across fleets of clusters. How do you configure enterprise-grade policies that can be enforced across all Kubernetes infrastructure while allowing for centralized detection and reporting of policy violations?
3. Limited Role Based Access Control (RBAC) – The kubectl CLI tool does not provide RBAC by default. Executed commands are not logged by user account and generally speaking, kubectl is difficult to access outside firewalls. Moreover, using it to manage entire fleets is cumbersome and error-prone. How do you ensure that developers, QA, DevOps, and Ops/SREs teams have the right access based on their roles and responsibilities?

Here’s how Rafay solves the above problems:

1. Lifecycle Management of any Kubernetes cluster type, be it Public (EKS, AKS, or GKE) or Private Cloud On-Premises. Rafay provides a single pane of glass for Operations teams to deploy, manage, and upgrade all of an Enterprise’s Kubernetes clusters across all environments from a single console access.
2. Centralized governance through cluster Blueprints. These ensure that clusters are always in compliance with company policies. Blueprints allow centralized configurations for cluster standardization that can encompass security policies, software add-ons such as service mesh, ingress controllers, monitoring, logging and backup and restore strategies.
3. Zero-Trust Access. This service enables controlled, audited access for developers, SREs, and automation systems to the Kubernetes infrastructure. It integrates tightly with enterprise-grade RBAC/SSO solutions and is continuously validated for security configuration and posture to ensure compliance.

These are just a few of the rich suite of turnkey services that the Rafay Kubernetes Operations Platform provides.

Networking will always hold a special place in my heart and I’ll still get some of that exposure at Rafay. However it will be less with BGP AS Path Prepend and more with CNI plugins.

At the end of the day, technology features and benefits are one thing, but what really excites me is what app modernization ultimately means for organizations. We all use many of these modern apps every day. Enterprises build them for a number of critical business reasons, such as to serve customers, leverage cloud computing, and better compete in the market.

To date, Kubernetes has been more of a hurdle than an enabler. Rafay’s goal is to change that and help make Kubernetes the accelerator to modernization that it was intended to be. And that movement, to me, is worth joining.

I’m absolutely thrilled to begin my journey in the exciting world of enterprise-grade Kubernetes operations management with Rafay!